[Space hopper]

This might seem a silly question, when I purchased my bike it was advertised as a kz750 ltd, however on closer inspection it's more likely to be kz750n spectre ie mostly black and black chrome. I thought the LTD was chain final drive and the Spectre shaft being the main difference. Mine came with LTD livery and chrome fenders but with gold wheels and engine casings as per spectre. I have since seen a LTD for sale with shaft drive (no gold)
Mine is now painted as a Spectre (with chrome fenders) because to me it's more Spectre than LTD.
Can anyone tell me what the difference is between the 2 models?
Mine was manufactured in March 1982 and the LTD I've seen is 1983.
Might mine be a hybrid of the 2?
My Engine and frame Numbers match.
This pic is from when I bought it and is now nearly fully restored as a Spectre

 

[Kawasakian]

Everything on your bike speaks Spectre, except the LTD side covers and the paint job, I haven't seen that on any Kawasaki. To me it's a Spectre, the wheels, the engine covers, driveshaft,e etc. but the tank and paint lines don't match anything I've seen. The 550 LTD has the exact same markings on the tank and side covers. See pic below (different color, same style markings on tank and side covers)

 

[Space hopper]

Have I got it wrong about the LTD being chain drive only as I have just seen advertised a 1983 Kz550 LTD with shaft drive. Did later LTD models (post 82) have shaft?
The 2 LTD 's I've seen are all plain aluminium (engine/wheels etc) and bright chrome.

 

[WFO-KZ]

Does this help?

Kawasaki KZ750N Spectre: history, specs, pictures - CycleChaos

www.cyclechaos.com

Kawasaki KZ750H - CycleChaos

www.cyclechaos.com

 

[WFO-KZ]

 

[WFO-KZ]

 

[Space hopper]

Many thanks for the links, mine is a N1, so definitely 1982 spectre and now in the correct colour scheme (black and maroon), I guess a previous owner changed the tank, side panels and fenders to LTD spec , maybe because of accident damage? Although no other damage.Who knows? Anyway all good now
Ian

 

[marshtiger58]

I have the 1983 KZ750 LTD-F1 Shaft in the attached picture with the identical tank and side covers as shown in your picture. However, my headlight housing and mounting brackets are chrome, the 4 exhaust pipes from the motor are chrome, the turn signal lights and instrument housings are chrome, and the carburetors and the drive shaft rear hub are not black. Hope this helps.

 

[Space hopper]

I have the 1983 KZ750 LTD-F1 Shaft in the attached picture with the identical tank and side covers as shown in your picture. However, my headlight housing and mounting brackets are chrome, the 4 exhaust pipes from the motor are chrome, the turn signal lights and instrument housings are chrome, and the carburetors and the drive shaft rear hub are not black. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the input, my bike is a kz750n1(1982) therfore is definitely a Spectre, how it became a Spectre/LTD hybrid is anyone's guess

 

[Kawasakian]

Your bike has al the nicely finished Spectre parts. As long as you are happy with it, that's all that matters.

 

[Space hopper]

Just applied for official dating certificate so I can get it registered in UK with correct age related No plate, in UK when a vehicle is registered it keeps that plate for life and it shows its age as a letter ie mine will be "X" registered showing its 1982 ,"Y" reg means its 1983 etc
On another note, and not motorcycle related, is that my new to me (of 4 months) car has been stolen from my drive way and the police say "inform your insurance company " by now it will be either stripped for parts or in a shipping container on its way to Europe or Africa and never to be seen again. A big financial loss to me because the insurance company will pay me the "trade" value and not the "retail " value which I paid.
Very p!ssed off
Ian

 

[WFO-KZ]

Well that sucks but what the police say is probably accurate.

A Porsche was stolen a few months ago from Toronto and just last week it showed up at a used car dealer in Dubai. The dealer posted photos of it. They stripped the plates, and removed a Canadian flag decal and put new wheels on it, but otherwise it was the same car right down to the very same key fob strap.

 

[Space hopper]

In one sense I'm lucky it had keyless entry and they could take it without having to break into my house to get the key fob, every cloud has a silver lining, anyway my next vehicle will be a piece of sh!t what nobody wants

 

[Kawasakian]

A friend of mine who works for Homeland Security told me that high end cars stolen in New York City are usualy within a container ship iwithin 15 minutes. When they intercept ships in the middle east, they are full of stolen cars. They are looking for weapons and drugs, and don't care about carsss. The car industry counts on these cars being stolen, as it keeps up production. If you have a car that you believe is worth way more than the trade in value, get ACV (Actual Cash Value) insurance on it. It costs you more, but you get the car's real worth back, which they will tell you when you sign up for it.

 

[davidr1963]

Just applied for official dating certificate so I can get it registered in UK with correct age related No plate, in UK when a vehicle is registered it keeps that plate for life and it shows its age as a letter ie mine will be "X" registered showing its 1982 ,"Y" reg means its 1983 etc
On another note, and not motorcycle related, is that my new to me (of 4 months) car has been stolen from my drive way and the police say "inform your insurance company " by now it will be either stripped for parts or in a shipping container on its way to Europe or Africa and never to be seen again. A big financial loss to me because the insurance company will pay me the "trade" value and not the "retail " value which I paid.
Very p!ssed off
Ian

That’s annoying Ian but if you talk to the loss adjuster, you can get closer to retail value than used to be the case

I had my van written off at the start of the pandemic and eventually agreed a payout based on us both sitting in front of our computers looking at vehicles for sale on Autotrader. Once we agreed on the closest vehicle, it was agreed to pay out that price.

In my case they paid in full but you will probably have your excess taken off the value first unfortunately.

If you have a car that you believe is worth way more than the trade in value, get ACV (Actual Cash Value) insurance on it. It costs you more, but you get the car's real worth back, which they will tell you when you sign up for it.

Whilst you can insure classic cars for an agreed value over here, the option you suggest isn’t available over here in the UK for mainstream vehicles.

 

[Space hopper]

Thanks for that Dave, positive thoughts, I will definitely look at doing that.
I think my crystal ball wasn't working when I purchased my insurance. Definitely excess to pay but might break even with the "personal items " amount 🤔
Many thanks again Dave I don't think I would have thought of that although I wouldn't settle for the first offer.
Ian

 

[davidr1963]

No problem; I’ve not had a car stolen but imagine it must be both incredibly annoying and inconvenient.

I hope you get it settled asap, buy a cheap runaround and put the rest into more bikes!

 

[jpd]

I did much the same thing when my car was totaled this year. With the price of used cars high now the insurance values haven't kept up. One of the key phrases I have heard is, YOU HAVE TO MAKE ME WHOLE. Meaning you have to be able to get a replacement for what they are paying you. It is there responsibility to maintain the value list for what the car is worth and charge you the correct amount for the insurance. The original amount they wanted to give me was several thousand below book value. I used nada guides. Took off value for the high milage on the car and used Cars.com to search anywhere in the USA for a car that was close. I gave them adds for a year older and 15,000 miles more and the asking price was still higher. They told me we will get back to you twice before calling with the offer I took. I also told them I was using publicly available information not some secrets insurance book and told them where they could get the same information.

sorry for your loss

 

[Space hopper]

I know we have gone way off topic, not even bike related!!! but I would like to take the opportunity to thank all for some great advice and kind words
Ian

 

[Space hopper]

Update, claim now settled ,several phone calls and Emails later, managed to get their "engineer" to look again at the replacement cost and I will be getting close to what I paid, Amen.